Help! Can anyone identify these two tracks????

[JK]

I've been looking for them for years. The first is a complete mystery, the second is a stunning version of John Farnham's "You're The Voice":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtFUIbmIJEU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC5ahbmfbMc

[Ron]

I don't know the song, but doesn't that bug the sh*t out of you?  You uploaded it three years ago!

It reminds me of this song I had stuck in my head, I was f***ed because it was an instrumental!  So I kind of knew the melody, and would hum it to people.  I thought it was a hugely popular song, but nobody seemed to recognize it.  On and on it went.

So one morning, I woke up really early, and was laying in bed watching the news, probably woke up two hours earlier than I ever did usually.  When they went to the commercial, THEY STARTED PLAYING THAT DAMN SONG!  So the newscaster went "What's the name of that song?" as they were going to commercial.

When he came back from commercial, he let us all know that it was Cliffs Of Dover by Eric Johnson.  I should have known it, but went about 3 or 4 years with it stuck in my head and no clue who did it. 

[bgas]

Figuring you've already searched everywhere online, I presume you've compared all of these from the Wikipedia list of cover versions for You're The Voice:
>>
 In 1989, Scottish singer Barbara Dickson covered it on her album Coming Alive Again.
 In 1990, David Foster included a cover on his album River of Love with Jeff Pescetto on vocals.
 In 1993, Lavrentis Machairitsas covered the song with Greek lyrics on his album Rixe Kokkino Sti Nihta. The song was later performed as a mash-up of the original and the cover version in the first season of The Voice of Greece.[22]
 In 1995, The Italian band Matia Bazar included their own version with original lyrics in Italian with the title of "La Scuola Dei Serpenti" on their compilation album Radio Matia.
 In 1995, Dutch a cappella group Montezuma's Revenge on their album Make A Noise.
 In 1996, Christian singer Rebecca St. James covered it on her album God.
 In 2004, British vocal group G4 covered it on their album G4 & Friends.
 In 2008, a full length studio cover version of the song by David Archuleta appeared on iTunes after he had performed it on the TV series American Idol.
 A cappella group Club for Five in 2009 on their album You're The Voice.
 In 2010, power metal band Blind Guardian on their album At the Edge of Time.
 In 2012, British heavy metal band I Am I released a cover as a single. An audio sample can be heard on their official website.[23]
 In 2013, Welsh rock band Attack! Attack! covered the song on their third album "Long Road To Nowhere"  << 

as to the first song, Shazam couldn't find a match...

[JK]

I don't know the song, but doesn't that bug the sh*t out of you?  You uploaded it three years ago!

It reminds me of this song I had stuck in my head, I was f***ed because it was an instrumental!  So I kind of knew the melody, and would hum it to people.  I thought it was a hugely popular song, but nobody seemed to recognize it.  On and on it went.

So one morning, I woke up really early, and was laying in bed watching the news, probably woke up two hours earlier than I ever did usually.  When they went to the commercial, THEY STARTED PLAYING THAT DAMN SONG!  So the newscaster went "What's the name of that song?" as they were going to commercial.

When he came back from commercial, he let us all know that it was Cliffs Of Dover by Eric Johnson.  I should have known it, but went about 3 or 4 years with it stuck in my head and no clue who did it.  

Ron, I wasn't the uploader of the mystery song (the first one). In those days I used to try to identify mystery tunes for folks on YouTube and this was one of them. i did find two lines of the lyrics on some sites dating from 2004 but no word of where they were from. Something keeps telling me it's from Eastern Europe...

i remember your story from the time I was asking here about an instrumental whose title had been eluding me for more than 40 years! http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,10712.msg198532.html#msg198532

[JK]

Figuring you've already searched everywhere online, I presume you've compared all of these from the Wikipedia list of cover versions for You're The Voice:
as to the first song, Shazam couldn't find a match...

Thanks, bgas. Yes, I've searched everywhere! And I did go through that list a while back but I guess I should check it again in case anything has been added since then.

I get the feeling it's not a remix of someone else's song with some rapping and scratching thrown in but all recorded for the occasion.

As for the first song----like Ron, I'm hoping to be confronted with it out of the blue some time, in a record shop, on the radio, wherever...    

[JK]

I don't want to harp on about these tracks, but I must ask: Is the opening instrument in track one a guitar or a bass played high up the fretboard? Any thoughts? It sounds like quite a stretch for a bassist. (It sure ain't a harp.)     

[feelsflow]

I listened to both songs when you first posted.  Haven't a glue who the artists are.  The second one is a style of music I don't listen to, so doubt I could ever figure that out.

The first one sounds like a modern Country singer.  You know, not really Country, but with a bit of a twang.     You think the first song sounds Eastern Europe?  I think the opening instrument is an amplified acoustic 6-string or hollow body electric guitar strumming the top four strings, but a bass sound is there too - about eight seconds in.  Or a guitarist with a long thumb wrapping the top string simultaneously to add the bass.  Amplified strings make a sound without even strumming.  Sound is made just by chording and sliding up the fret-board.  If a guitarist has big hands, quite a lot can be produced.  Hendrix comes to mind.  He could play one thing on the top or top two strings, and chord on the lower strings simultaneously.  I don't think it's a bass alone.

Maybe one of Smiler's who make music could help.  There are several of them proficient at guitar and bass.

Good luck on finding the artists. 

[JK]

The first one sounds like a modern Country singer.  You know, not really Country, but with a bit of a twang.     You think the first song sounds Eastern Europe?  I think the opening instrument is an amplified acoustic 6-string or hollow body electric guitar strumming the top four strings, but a bass sound is there too - about eight seconds in.  Or a guitarist with a long thumb wrapping the top string simultaneously to add the bass.  Amplified strings make a sound without even strumming.  Sound is made just by chording and sliding up the fret-board.  If a guitarist has big hands, quite a lot can be produced.  Hendrix comes to mind.  He could play one thing on the top or top two strings, and chord on the lower strings simultaneously.  I don't think it's a bass alone.

Maybe one of Smiler's who make music could help.  There are several of them proficient at guitar and bass.

Good luck on finding the artists. 

Thanks, Will. Fact is, I was looking for more info to include in the Google strings I've been trying out in every imaginable permutation.

Eastern European is just a hunch----what I really mean is that the lyrics don't sound like something a native speaker would write and the accent seems to bear that out. The all-important title----assuming it is the title!----is sung twice (at 1:36). Maybe the more distant word on the first beat (sung by someone else?) is part (or indeed all) of the title, maybe not. Whatever the case, I can't for the life of me make out what the heck they're singing!   

 

[Loaf]

Eastern European? Country? Are you guys crazy?

It sounds like fairly generic modern American rock. A Smashing Pumpkins influence in the music, but the singer sounds like any kind of female rock singer from the 90s: Lisa Loeb/Alanis Morissette/Evanescence.

I'd guess a woman and three guys in the band, circa 2000. Possibly unsigned.

[JK]

Eastern European? Country? Are you guys crazy?

Say what you like about me (it's probably true anyway) but don't go casting aspersions on Will, please.

[feelsflow]

Thanks John.    I looked a bit more, but failed to find much to report.  Did think it might be Alanis Morissette myself.  Couldn't find all of her tracks tho.  She does have some obscure Canadian stuff from before she had the hit, something she tries to keep hidden from public.  So, good luck.  Actually the track is beginning to grow on me.

[JK]

Thanks John.    I looked a bit more, but failed to find much to report.  Did think it might be Alanis Morissette myself.  Couldn't find all of her tracks tho.  She does have some obscure Canadian stuff from before she had the hit, something she tries to keep hidden from public.  So, good luck.  Actually the track is beginning to grow on me.

Interesting, the AM connection. That's an area of music that's passed me by. Just not for me, I suppose.

I shall follow that lead---you never know. Would that have been before or after she moved to Eastern Europe?

[Fifteen minutes later] Her early stuff was dance-pop. Dipping into other later things of hers, I really can't see her being the mystery artist, with all due respect.

[feelsflow]

Wait.  I didn't mean I was a fan of her music.  She's terrible.  I didn't even like "the Hit."  Quite the task listening to what I did.  Just looking for the voice on the clip.

I would be setting myself up for more abuse from folks like Loaf talking about the state of modern female singers.  Looking at my own collection, the last female singers I've truly loved are Corinne Drewery and Annie Lennox.  I still buy anything they release.  Other than those 80's artists, only a track here and there.  I could list name after name from the 60's and 70's, a few from the 50's.  I don't listen to radio, except in the car, so don't have much access to modern music in general.  I'm trying to tell myself I like Brian's co-vocalist picks on the new album, male and female.  I had not heard of any of them before last year, the 2014 Grammy's show.  Got in trouble right away stating my views on Kacey.  It's like Brian watched that show and said "Yeah, I'll get together with that one and that one.  Man, he sounds like a young James Brown, that one too.  It'll give me a modern sound in an old style..."  Maybe his daughters do like them too.  More likely they were watching the show together.  Would have preferred he bring back Carole for some more sessions.  Loved what they did on the Target bonus tracks tacked on to That Lucky Old Sun.  I like Taylor Mills okay, but I'm not out looking for her music other than with Brian.  I see she's listed on the new one - guess that's just background vocals.  Brian has done pretty good at trying to replace the Rovell sisters.  Obviously that was what he was trying to do with Carole.  I love the work he did with his "other" daughters.  I got No Pier Pressure yesterday at Target.  I will listen with an open mind, but...

The best way to say this is when I was young, out and about, I heard plenty of new young singers.  That's what young folks are doing now.  Listening to new music.  Male or female, there's just not many new artists I'm finding all that interesting.  It's not enough they can sound like, or remind me of something from the past.  The ones that do, are doing just that.  Reminding me of the past.  They were influenced by their own past.  Everybody is.  My very favorites since 1990 are Liam/Oasis from the 90's, and Sam Beam/Iron and Wine from the 2000's.  Corinne/Swing Out Sister, same deal.  Their music is very much from the past.  She's the closest to Laura Nyro of any singer I've heard.  She does a fine Dusty style too.

I tried to Google some of the lines from the song as well, and got nowhere.

Reading back over my post, might have stuck this in the wrong thread.  Not much to do with your search for the singer/song in your clip.  I'll post it anyway, sure someone is looking for someone to scream at this morning.

[Ron]

I listened again, there's no way the 1st song is a country singer that I'm aware of and I'm pretty aware of most of them.  It sounds 90's to me... unfortunately it's likely a lesser known band that may not have even had a contract, because the quality isn't that good, sounds like it's off a tape, might have even been sold only at concerts.  I've got a few tapes floating around from bands like that, never really made it but put out recorded tapes in kind of low-fi...

No way it's Alanis Morisette, either.  To be honest, Alanis was a much better singer than the girl on this song, although I like the song and there's nothing really wrong with her voice.  It's very pedestrian though so it literally could be anybody.

The second song I'm not sure either, sounds early 2000's, it may be one of the kids from American Idol or something.  It kind of has a "Robyn" vibe if you've ever heard of her but I don't think it's her specifically, just that style which is very european...  Robyn's a MUCH better singer though than whoever this is.

For instance:

Robyn : Hang With Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3a2qoyONVA

[JK]

Thanks again for your input, guys.

Odd that you should mention Idols, as I seem to remember seeing a version on YouTube of "You're The Voice"  sung on "Australian Idols", possibly even with a bit of rap thrown in.

I've heard Robyn before. Judging by the rap section that second song sounds more '90s to me. Recently it dawned on me that it's not entirely unlike that crazy song The KLF did with Tammy Wynette, with a rapper adding his two cents from time to time.